I came away from the Capitol Hill Block Party with a awesome new CD but also wishing, yet again, that I wasn’t a few months shy of 21. I had failed to notice that Truckasauras, The Maldives

and Fatal Lucciauno and were all playing on the Neumos 21+ stage. Just my luck. While my friend went to celebrate his 21st birthday at the Truckasauras show, (which he later reported was a high energy performance and “really fucking cool”) I caught The Lonely Forest at the Vera stage. Although it wasn’t what I was planning on, I was excited to finally see a live performance of these guys. They ended up being my favorite of the evening as they embody everything that I love about the Pacific Northwest. I mean they sing about trees. How much more Seattle can you get? I hadn’t heard their song Mt. Constitution (brownie points: because it is the name of my favorite place in the San Juans) but was blown away by the balance and charisma the song took on. It teetered somewhere between smooth linear pop and unstructured indie rock. This engaging foursome from Anacortes, also had a full live sound that made me wish we were listening to them in an even larger venue (hopefully they will get that at this year’s Bumbershoot in EMP’s SkyChurch).Besides The Lonely Forest, I did manage to catch SOL who wasn’t as compelling live as I hoped he would be. I also weaseled my way in among the claustrophobic crowd for Gossip, who rocked pretty hard and held an upbeat dance tempo throughout most of their songs.The best part of Block Party was when I happened upon rap and hip-hop artist Scribes (who had just made a guest performance with SOL). He bestowed a free CD upon me with the stipulation that I promise to listen to it. Uh, duh. I have been cruising around Seattle listening to it all day. As per its name, Summer Sampler 2009 (released in May), it is an excellent compilation of a few summer hip-hop jams that leaves me wanting more. With his fresh tempos and thoughtful messages, Scribes is definitely one to watch in 2009 and beyond.